Two Democrats want to represent parts of the Bronx and Westchester in Congress for New York’s 16th Congressional District.

With just days before early voting starts in the race, Westchester County Executive George Latimer and Rep. Jamaal Bowman stood on the Spectrum News debate stage Wednesday night for an hourlong debate.

The two traded policy positions and sharp words.

“He keeps lying about my record and we need to set it straight tonight,” Bowman said.

“This is my rebuttal, my friend. My rebuttal, not yours,” Latimer said.

A former educator, Bowman first went to Congress in 2021. While in Washington, D.C., Bowman aligned himself with the progressive lawmakers known as the Squad. 

Fellow Democrat Latimer believes the district is ready for change. A longtime elected official in Westchester, Latimer is currently the county’s executive. And he’s drawn sharp contrast in the race between his view and Bowman’s view on the Israel-Hamas war.

When asked if there are any circumstances in the war in which the U.S. should cut off giving weapons or aid to Israel, the two candidates had different answers. 

“We should not be sending any more weapons at this time to Israel. They are engaged in collective punishment by killing mostly women, children and babies in Gaza,” Bowman said.

“I believe the path to peace starts with the release of the hostages, the cessation of hostilities, and then humanitarian aid, which is supervised by a third-party, most likely a group of folks from within the Muslim world,” Latimer said.

On congestion pricing, the candidates were pressed for their views.

“If the core purpose of congestion pricing is to fund money into the MTA, the most logical thing to do is to put time and energy and effort at the federal level of government to get more aid from the federal government to fund the MTA,” Latimer said.

“The pause is the governor’s decision, but we need to have a larger conversation about climate change and climate justice,” Bowman said.

Bowman addressed the moment when he pulled a fire alarm ahead of a vote on a house spending bill last September.

“When it occurred, it was an accident. I was rushed. I was panicked. I was trying to get to a vote,” he said.

“His excuse for the fire alarm was not true when you saw the video,” Latimer responded.

Latimer said he supports efforts to place a full-fledged casino at the empire city site in Yonkers. Meanwhile Bowman said he does not.

Spectrum News moderators also asked the candidates to rate Mayor Eric Adams for his leadership of the city from a scale of 1 to 10.

“Incomplete,” Latimer said.

“Two,” Bowman said.